PEORIA — With more than 6 inches of snow on the ground and bitterly cold temperatures in the air, city officials held an emergency news conference Sunday afternoon to address the city's weather conditions.

"We have a major snow event continuing. With the wind and the subzero temperatures, we have a dangerous mixture," Mayor Jim Ardis said at the Peoria Public Works Office. "If you don't have to go out, stay inside where it is safe."

City officials noted that temperatures were expected to drop to 15 degrees below zero overnight, and wind speeds of 30 mph were to continue overnight.

"It's been a hard snow to measure with all the drifting," Eric Lauftenberg, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office at Lincoln, said Sunday night. "We've had some measurements in Peoria say 8 inches, but the official measurement is 6.5 inches."

After the snow began Saturday night, a multitude of cancellations and closings were announced in its wake. Five flights at General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport were canceled Sunday, and stores all across the city closed early.

CityLink buses will run as scheduled Monday morning, said Anna Buehrer, CityLink's director of marketing and public relations. Buehrer said a decision on altering any routes will be made once the first buses go out about 4:45 a.m.

For those who still had to drive around Sunday, the roads throughout the city appeared to be partially plowed or completely unplowed. That was not due to a lack of effort from the city.

"Because of drifting, it may not look like much," Public Works Director Mike Rogers said. "Crews will be addressing all streets. We have 25 crews working two shifts, so we have people working all 24 hours."

Rogers laid out the city's plan when it came to snow removal, detailing how major streets were paved before neighborhood streets. It took until noon Sunday for the city to start working on neighborhood roads, but the city had plans to speed up the process by only plowing one center lane on neighborhood roads.

"Opening just a center lane takes half the time," David Haste, Peoria's streets and sewers manager, said. "It's important that we open all roads as quickly as possible so people can travel and emergency personnel can get wherever they need to."

"Don't be alarmed if you don't see curb-to-curb plowing. We need patience right now," Rogers said. "The parking ban that's in effect right now is very important so we can eventually work curb-to-curb."

Roger stated that $250 tickets would still be handed out to all those who parked along snow routes. He also said the whole plowing process could take up to seven days to complete.

With both the high and low temperatures expected to be subzero Monday, city officials were worried about everything from the city's residents to its infrastructure.

Page 2 of 2 - "Check on your neighbor. Check on the people you normally see throughout the day. Check up and take care of your pet," Dwain Deppolder of the Office of Emergency Management said. "If there are any power outages, be careful with what you're using for alternative energy. Sure, it may be keeping you warm, but it could be increasing your carbon monoxide levels dangerously."

"The extreme temperature also has potential to impact electrical infrastructure," Rogers said. "We're preparing for that as well. We have crews on standby just in case."

As of 9:30 Sunday night, Ameren Illinois was not reporting any outages in Peoria, Tazewell or Woodford counties.

With the subzero temperatures, garbage collection for the city will be delayed by one day and not start again until Tuesday. "It's simply because of the dangerous conditions; we don't want to put our workers through that."

All of the city officials present pleaded for people to stay at home Monday and to continue to stay off the roads. "When it gets down to the temperature we're going to see in the next few days, salt is very ineffective," Rogers said. "So again, stay off the roads if you can."

"We already have a lot of snow on the ground, so we'll have snow blowing all around," Urich said. "The strong, blowing winds and the windchill will make things even more dangerous."

In McLean County, one weather-related death was reported Sunday.

Shortly before noon, a Bloomington woman found her 71-year-old husband unresponsive at their home. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 1 p.m., McLean County Coroner Beth Kimmerling said in a news release.

"He had been snow blowing for about 10 minutes when he came inside, and his wife found him a short time later," Kimmerling said.

Kimmerling said the man, whose name was not released Sunday, had an extensive cardiac history that led to his collapse.

Zach Berg can be reached at zberg@pjstar.com or 686-3257. Follow him on Twitter @ZacharyBerg.